Hey there, I've seen several "monotoned" expys that look really great. you know, the bottom plastic painted the same as the general body color. all the ones i've seen like this are the eddie bauer models whjere the bottom plastic is already painted.

Can the grey XLT bottom plastic be painted?

If yes, does anyone have any tips, costs and pictures of ones that have this??

Thanks! pk

 

that crap is ugly

looks like a damn avalanche

one of the main reasons i went with an older model

has anyone popped em off?

 

Yes, they can be painted . I just painted mine this past weekend. They turned out awesome. I didn't take off the cladding I just taped around them.

 

The Ford Cladding's looks like an old -80 to -90 Mercedes with door plastic styling. I can guarantee you one thing: This plastic camouflage (read cladding) will be a rust broblem in the future if you live in a state with snow and salted roads. If you don't do a professional anti-rust process (like Tectyl or similar), you will have doors like a cracker factory. I now what I talking about.

Here in Norway the highways department always salt the roads every winter. I look forward to make a inspection at the backside of the cladding shields.

 

Can you please share some more info? How did you do it and what did you use? did you paint the bumpers too? Thanks.

 

Buddy did it on his 03. He didn't sand them though. He used some type of body shop plastic filler, sanded that then painted. The reason for the filler was because the cladding was'nt perfect, it had slight indentations. They turned out perfect.

 

I went to a local auto paint store bought the paint to match the rest of the body. I used PPG brand products, Deltron 2000 for the base color, DX 369 flexative, DPX801 universal plastics adhesion promoter, DX330 cleaner and a white scotchbrite pad. My friend who is a painter and has a shop let me use his shop. He also supplied the masking paper, masking tape, reducer, clear and the hardener for free, which saved me alot of $$$. The code for the clear is DCU2021, and DCX61 for the hardener. You will need a quart of the base color, quart of the plastics adhesion, quart of the cleaner, quart of the clear, pint of the flexative, 8oz. of the hardener. With this amount of products you will have enough left over to repaint the panels again if you ever need to. I think I spend a total of 175.00$ for everything. That is less than half the quot I got to have it done at professional shop and that would've been without a warranty becouse he was painting plastic. My friend told me that you can sub the plastics adhesion with any adhesive promoter from any pepboys or auto zone where touch up paint is sold. Saves you $$$. You don't have to use PPG brand, OMNI is also a good brand and is cheaper.Here are the steps to follow:

1. clean the cladding with plenty of soap and water, let dry.
2. mask or remove cladding, remove foglights and rearbumper black step pad.
3. wipe down with DX330 cleaner.
4. scufsand cladding with white scotchbrite pad.
5. repeat step 3.
6. Spray DPX801 adhesion promoter. ( this is ready to spay, just pour into paint gun and spay one good coat)
7. WAIT 30 MINUTES
8. Mix base coat with reducer ( I think the ratio was 1 to 1) apply at least 3 coats of the base.wait 10 to15 min between coats.
9. Repeat step 7.
10. Mix clear with hardener ( I think the ratio is 2 to 1, 2 parts clear ,1 part hardener) once clear and hardener are mixed add 2oz. of flexative to that.
11. Spray at least 3 coats of the clear, waiting 10 to15 min between coats( be very carefull in this step, clear is very easy to run or sag.
12. Wait at least 1 hour before you start to demask.

I think I got all the steps, the whole process took about 5 hours.

Here's the before and after pics:

Before:



After:

 

AF,

Thanks for this very thorough reply and documentation of how this is done. This is of great help to me and will undoubtedly help many others!

With the bottom cladding painted, the XLT looks better than an EB and makes the vehicle look like its worth thousands more. Your's looks really nice!

pk

 

Killer post, AZ Mezkin!

 

AF NEZKIN


Beautiful job. Did you paint the mirrors also? I have the Estate Green XLT and only can Imagine how it would look with the cladding painted. I snaged a set of OEM wheels that had been chromed off of Ebay a week or so ago, need to get center chrome caps, and now thinking of how it would look with chrome wheels, and the cladding and bumpers painted. Now to have a small stripe down the side, like the older EB's my wife would love it. Thanks for listing the supplies you used. I to know a body shop who if I supply the paint and other suppiles would shoot it for me cheap, on a weekend. I take it you did not fill the dimples and sand it, you just preped it and shot the paint.

Tom

 

Tom, look at the last picture.

 

Ken


I did look at the last picture, I should have asked if the mirrors were painted at the same time as he did not mention painting the mirrors. I will probably leave my mirrors black. But boy does his look nice. come on Ford, get bettery stylist and spend the extra $10 to paint or have the cladding molded to match the paint.

Tom

 

Yea, I did paint the mirrors at the same time. No, I did'nt fill the dimples, but if you add another coat or two of base and clear this should solve the problem. I shoot an extra coat of clear to the front bumper and it turned out real smooth. I'm thinking of applying another coat or two of clear to the cladding again to get it looking like glass. (As soon as it starts to warm up.)

 

@ AF-
This is one of the best examples I have ever seen. Great job.

 

DAMN that's a good job!!